About 18 million people across Sudan suffer from acute hunger (Reuters)

The World Food Program said that it was receiving reports of people dying of hunger in Sudan, and that the number of hungry people had doubled over the past year as civilians were deprived of aid due to the war.

The program called on both parties to the war in Sudan - the army and the Rapid Support Forces - to provide immediate and urgent guarantees for the unhindered delivery of humanitarian food aid to areas affected by the conflict, where displaced civilians suffer from hunger, siege and isolation that prevents the arrival of any life-saving aid.

Nearly 18 million people across Sudan suffer from acute hunger, and more than 5 million people face emergency levels of hunger in areas most affected by the conflict.

The World Food Program said - in a statement - that it was able to deliver aid to only one in 10 people in those areas, which include the capital, Khartoum, the Darfur region in the west, and Al-Jazira state, where the Rapid Support Forces recently penetrated.

"It has become almost impossible for relief agencies to access due to security threats, roadblocks, and requests for fees and taxes," the statement explained.

The World Food Program said it was trying to obtain security guarantees to resume operations in Gezira State, which was previously a center for providing aid to which many people fled from Khartoum.

He added that aid deliveries in Sudan are limited after 70 trucks were stuck in Port Sudan for more than two weeks, and about 31 other trucks in the city of El Obeid for more than 3 months.

Under a classification approved by UN agencies and NGOs, crisis levels of hunger mean that households suffer from high rates of acute malnutrition or can meet only minimal needs through crisis coping strategies or spending essential assets.

Emergency levels of hunger mean that households are suffering from a severe increase in acute malnutrition or are at risk of death, or can only cope through emergency measures or liquidation of assets.

Source: Al Jazeera + Reuters